Hydrogen Peroxide Saves Another Life!

Updated on April 19, 2012

Hydrogen peroxide has saved another dog's life or, at the very least, a really expensive trip to the emergency vet.

Late Sunday evening, my pug dog was discovered happily crunching on chocolate calcium supplements. We should have been suspicious as it was too quiet in the apartment. We thought she had settled down for the night. It was past her usual bedtime.

Don't Trust Quiet Pugs

Silly us. Annie Pug had managed to climb up a chair near the bedroom bureau and wrestle down a large Ziploc bag full of round, dark chocolate calcium supplements wrapped in tinfoil. She tore open the plastic and started eating. We suspect we found her about 10 to 15 supplements into her binge.

Chaos! We rounded up all the evidence while dialing the emergency vet. They did a quick 5 minute. intake and referred us to animal poison control center (800-222-1222). I didn't even know they had one. Apparently, it's run by the ASPCA and is not free. No argument from me as $65 seemed a reasonable amount to find out if I would have to pump my dog's stomach or, and I don't even want to think about this, have her put down.

The Cure

The poison control center asked questions that seemed to take forever. Actually, it was probably only about 10 minutes. We were given a case number to give to the emergency vet so he could talk to the poison control center.

We waited another 10 or 15 minutes while they conferred. They concluded that it would be safe for us to make Annie Pug throw-up. You have to be careful about making a pug barf. They have a shortened face (brachycephalic)and can gag or even choke to death. There was also concern about the effect the calcium would have coming back up. Some poisons can do more damage on the way out.

The emergency vet felt it was inportant to get the toxins out of her system quickly. We were told to get the hydrogen peroxide. I've been here before. (See my hub about a beagle named Skippy eating my father's medication.)

We mixed about 1 teaspoon with a bit of peanut butter and fed it to her. As before, about 30 seconds later, up came the contents of her stomach. Again and again. I was surprised her little belly could hold that much chocolate.

Lessons Learned

I'm happy to report that Annie Pug recovered quickly. She was bouncing around, happy as a clam, after it was all said and done. We were exhausted!

I will never be without hydrogen peroxide. So far, we've saved two dogs with this stuff and hopefully this hub will get the word out to all the other dog owners out there.

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